For decades, researchers have been trying to increase the storage density and reliability as well as reduce the cost of storage devices such as hard disk drives.
Hard disk drives typically include one or more magnetic media attached to a spindle. A motor turns the spindle at high speeds to cause the media to move relative to one or more read and write heads. As a result, the read and write heads move rapidly across the media at a close distance and at a relatively high speed. The close distance and high speed cause the aerodynamics of the system to become design issues.
The motor of a hard disk drive may require a relatively large amount of power to spin. In addition, any deviation from a set distance between the read and write heads and the media may cause a hard disk drive to malfunction or cause the read or write heads to collide with the media. Accordingly, the power consumption and the possibility of a physical malfunction associated with hard disk drives leave room for improvement.